Following a plea in the Supreme Court, the Centre agrees to investigate judicial infrastructure issues

The centre informed the Supreme Court on Tuesday that concerns such as a lack of adequate infrastructure to meet the rising needs of the judiciary and the bar in the national capital can be investigated in conjunction with the Supreme Court registry.

The throng situation in the Supreme Court hallway was described as “terrible” by a bench comprising of Justice Vineet Saran and JK Maheshwari, who remarked the national government could do something about it.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, stated that it was not an adversarial case, that he was in contact with the government, and that the matter might be heard in four weeks.

The court took notice of the submissions and stated that the difficulties raised in the petition will be investigated by the centre in collaboration with the Supreme Court registry and the petitioner’s counsel, and set the public interest litigation or PIL for hearing in July 20.

On March 8, the top court sought responses from the centre and the top court’s registry on a PIL filed by bar leader Ardhendumauli Kumar Prasad seeking the development of a “judicial vista” near the top court premises to cater to the growing need of judicial infrastructure for all courts in the national capital, including the subordinate judiciary, tribunals, the Delhi High Court, and the bar.

On Monday, the bench stated that it wanted to know the central government’s position on the petition and scheduled a hearing with the Solicitor General on the topic for Tuesday.